TV Review: Scream (1×09) “The Dance”

THE DANCE: be it Homecoming, the Prom, or your regular old Spring Fling, it’s the pinnacle of most ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s teen movies. It’s Scream’s turn to take on this particular right of passage, which means that instead of crushes or achieving self actualization, blood is going to be spilled.

Should You Be Holding Halloween Festivities When People Keep Dying?

Lakewood County Municipal Records, One Year Ago: a hooded figure sifts through the Brandon James case file. Whoever it is finds one of Brandon’s masks and triumphantly puts it on, doing a slow turn for the audience. As my sister pointed out, there is absolutely no reason to do this if you are alone.

Present day: Piper Shaw suggests that the Sheriff use this occurrence as a jumping off point to find the Killer. He takes this under advisement as he walks into a press conference about Halloween. Trick-or-treating will end at sundown and the high school’s Halloween Dance will act as a fundraiser for the victims’ families. Piper Shaw is critical of these plans, despite Sheriff Hudson’s assurance that the dance will be guarded.

It Could Be…Branson (Part Deux)

The Interrogation Room: Sheriff Hudson recaps all of the evidence against Branson, including the knife Audry and Noah found that had traces of Will’s blood on it and the suspicious death of his former student/lover Olivia Fenley. Hudson suggests that Branson lawyer up before things get worse.

Emma demands to see Branson, certain that she’ll be able to confirm him as the killer when she looks him in the eyes. Branson is cocky and defiant towards her, which makes him seem really shady despite my thinking that he isn’t the Killer. She goes to Audry and Noah, drawing the conclusion that “Branson” must mean “Bran’s Son,” so he CLEARLY must be the Killer. Everyone is reaching.

Piper found Cassie James, Brandon’s mother, and paid her a visit to do a little info hunting. She brings Emma along on her next visit, where the elderly woman confuses Emma for Daisy. “He’d do anything for you and you got him killed,” she says, singing a few bars of the Daisy song. “He loved that song, and so did his boy.” Cassie mentions that Brandon’s son paid her a visit, and confirms that the boy’s name is Seth when the girls ask. Emma and Piper take this as fact, despite her clearly addled state.

Brooke and Jake, BFFs For Never

Brooke goes to stay with Jake’s family. They reconnect after her attack after Brooke explains her loneliness and Jake displays a certain level of protectiveness towards her. Later, Brooke realizes that the malware is active in her computer again and that someone must be watching her in the guest room. She confronts Jake about the malware, convinced that this means Branson is innocent. When Jake gets annoyed that she’s once again defending Branson, Brooke storms out to go home.

Don’t You Take Backup for a Reason?

According to Hudson, the Killer’s calls are coming from the towers near the lake. It’s far from Branson’s house, so he’s going to need a witness placing him near that spot to build a case against him. Hudson goes over there alone and walks into a house sans backup or warrant. Just as he discovers the computer the Killer is using to watch prospective victims, the Killer comes up behind him and smacks him in the face. Not great.

She Wants to Dance Like Uma Thurman

Audry and Noah are discussing Rachel’s videos being wiped clean after her murder. Using Rachel’s iCloud password, Audry finds the footage from when they snuck into a local bar. They find Kieran and Nina on screen, leaving the bar and looking pretty close.

Kieran had asked Emma to the dance, but due to an unknown reason, he’s going to meet her there. Audry explains Kieran’s secret connection to Nina, which Emma doesn’t take very well; she says that Audry should know that suspicious videos shouldn’t prove anyone’s guilt, recalling Audry’s suspiciously angry outburst from earlier this season.

When Emma confronts Kieran about the video, he explains that it was before he started school. Nina lied to him, claiming that she was twenty-three and worked in IT. He claims that he drove her home and turned down her invite inside. Ultimately, Emma can’t believe that it was Kieran any more than Audry. Audry tells her they have to agree to disagree and that she’s going to crash Brooke’s after-party and get wasted.

Piper comes to the dance to tell Emma that she visited Cassie again. According to Piper, Cassie said that her visitor/Brandon’s son was actually Kieran, not Branson. The lights cut out to show a video of a beaten, barely conscious Sheriff Hudson. The last moments of the episode show us that Branson escaped from jail, armed and dangerous, leaving behind an unconscious (or dead) officer and a pool of blood.

Random Facts Noted:

Maggie has ordered a maternity test.

Brooke is holding the after-party at her empty house, which sounds like the perfect recipe for a third act bloodbath.

At the dance, Jake used his access to the malware to check on Brooke.

Jake hooks up with a girl named Ava, I can’t tell if this is going to be relevant or not.

What a cliffhanger, Scream! We have an officer (or two) in grave peril, several people who are about to stupidly go off on their own, and multiple suspects for Piper’s accomplice (because one killer MUST be Piper). Tune in next week for the big reveal!

Best Line: “Kieran was leaving a bar with Nina. And Nina got dead.”–Audry, explaining Kieran’s secret to Emma.

Killer Calls Per Episode: Zero.

Body Count Per Episode: Maybe one? That officer in the last scene looked kind of dead, but I’ll need confirmation.

Cumulative Body Count: Five (or six, depending on the state of that officer).

Episode Rating: 8/10.

Bri is a 25-year-old born and raised in the swamps of Jersey. Just kidding, she lives at least twenty minutes from those swamps. She’s a publishing professional that moonlights as a writer. She enjoys going to concerts (anything from Rooney to Springsteen to NKOTBSB), roadtripping, and complaining that she truly belongs in the 1950’s, the 1920′s, or the 1980′s depending on her mood. She definitely owns more books than she should and reads every chance she gets. If you stop hearing from her, it’s because the book piles have fallen over and smothered her to death in the night. You can contact her at bri@theyoungfolks.com.
Twitter: @bri_lockhart